Jarl Squad heading for New York's Tartan Day parade

Up Helly Aa features a band of latter-day Viking warriors

The Jarl Squad from Shetland's famous annual Up Helly Aa fire festival this year is to head to America next month to take part in the Tartan Day parade.

Up Helly Aa is a spectacular event that celebrates Shetland's Viking heritage and culminates with the dramatic burning of a replica Viking galley.

It features a band of latter-day Viking warriors known as the Jarl Squad.

They will march down 6th Avenue in New York, in full Viking regalia, on 6 April.